Houston, Texas – The Trump administration is reviving a highly controversial practice that involves the detention of migrant families with children in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This move is the latest in the administration’s ongoing efforts to carry out a deportation campaign that President Trump has promised will be the largest in U.S. history.
The first group of migrant parents and children to be detained under this revived policy were held at an ICE detention facility in Texas on Thursday, designed specifically to house families with minors. This information was revealed in an internal government report obtained by CBS News. The report indicates that the group includes three children.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed the existence of deportation orders for these migrants. She further confirmed that the Trump administration is in the process of refitting two immigration detention centers in Texas to accommodate families residing illegally in the U.S.
“We aren’t going to ignore the rule of law,” McLaughlin told CBS News.
The Karnes detention facility, one of the two centers being refitted, is located in Karnes City, Texas, a small town east of San Antonio. The other facility is in Dilley, Texas, a small town south of San Antonio. These sites were previously used by the Biden administration to detain migrant adults.
The decision by the Trump administration to resume the detention of migrant families represents a significant reversal of a policy change implemented by the Biden administration. The practice of long-term detention of migrant families was first implemented on a large-scale by the Obama administration, as part of an attempt to deter families from crossing the southern border illegally.
This practice has long been denounced by child welfare advocates and experts, who argue that it causes significant harm to children and negatively affects their psychological well-being. A 2016 report commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security called for the phasing out of family immigration detention.
“There is no safe way to detain families and no legitimate justification for this inhumane practice,” said Neha Desai, an attorney at the California-based National Center of Youth Law, who is representing migrant children in a federal court case.
The U.S. government has long encountered a variety of legal, humanitarian, and operational challenges in processing migrant parents and children who are residing in the country without legal permission. For example, in 2015, a federal judge ruled that migrant children should generally not be held for longer than 20 days. This ruling significantly limited family detention in the context of immigration.
The resumption of family detention represents the latest effort by the Trump administration to enhance the capabilities of ICE to arrest, detain, and deport migrants residing in the U.S. illegally.
ICE officials have been under immense pressure from top Trump administration officials to escalate arrests and deportations. Unlike the administration’s efforts to seal off the U.S.-Mexico border, which have resulted in a 25-year low in illegal crossings, the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign within the country has encountered operational hurdles.
One such hurdle is the lack of detention capacity. As of Thursday, ICE’s detention system was operating at 120% capacity, holding more than 46,000 migrants, despite only having 38,000 beds on paper. These figures were revealed in internal government statistics.
The controversial policy of family detention has been a point of contention in U.S. immigration policy for some time. The Trump administration’s decision to revive this practice, despite its proven detrimental impact on the mental health of children, is likely to reignite debates about the humane treatment of migrants and the most effective ways to manage immigration in the country.
As the administration continues to push for stricter immigration policies and enforcement, it remains to be seen how these measures will affect the lives of thousands of migrant families and children, and whether these policies will indeed deter illegal immigration as intended, or simply exacerbate the existing humanitarian crisis.
The broader implications of this policy for U.S. immigration law, international human rights norms, and America’s reputation as a nation that welcomes immigrants, also remain to be seen. As the debate over this contentious issue continues, one thing is clear: the stakes are high for migrant families and children, who continue to bear the brunt of policies that often lead to prolonged detention and separation from loved ones.
Camilo Montoya-Galvez is the immigration reporter at CBS News. Based in Washington, he covers immigration policy and politics. His work is informed by his own experience as an immigrant, and he is known for his comprehensive and nuanced coverage of complex immigration issues. His reporting sheds light on the real-world implications of immigration policies, and he is committed to telling the stories of those most directly affected by these often controversial decisions.
